"no wireless extensions" error

pottzie · Guru Joined: 06 Nov 2010 Posts: 314

Just starting to install Gentoo from the cd. I can't get wireless to work, I keep getting "no wireless extensions." I've run net-setup (although it "stops" when I run ifconfig. Not sure if there's more to do than test it).

I'm using a Belkin usb reciever. lspci shows some usb controllers, but lsusb just comes back with "command not found."
I have a usb wireless mouse that is working, so I know that the usb ports are working. Any way to get the kernel and the Belkin talking to each other?

eccerr0r · Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2010 12:35 am Post subject:

lsusb is part of sys-apps/usbutils, if you don't have that emerged, it won't be in /usr/sbin/lsusb

That being said, it probably is being detected regardless, run "dmesg" to see if it shows up in the kernel ring buffer.

However likely you don't have a driver for it loaded. This will go back to needing lsusb to figure out more detailed information about the wifi adaptor - namely would be interesting to know the model and chipset it uses. Quite possibly you may need to download and build the ralink wifi drivers as a lot of USB wifi adaptors these days use ralink (and I've very crappy luck with the in-kernel ralink drivers)...
_________________
Intel Core i7 2700K/Radeon R7 250/24GB DDR3/256GB SSD
What am I supposed watching?

pottzie · Guru Joined: 06 Nov 2010 Posts: 314

dmesg returns enough info to fill my screen 30 times! Unable to see what's above the code shown on the monitor, but some of the info at the end says:
usb1-4: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 2
usb1-4; firmware requesting isl3887usb
usb1-4:(p54usb) cannot load firmwareisl3887usb_bare
usb1-4: firmware: requesting isl3887usb_bare
p54usb: probe of 1-4 failedwith error -2

I'm under the impression that I can't "merge' anything until I have a working internet connection. And yes, I think the Belkin uses a Railink chipset.

eccerr0r · Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2010 2:59 pm Post subject:

When debugging usb issues, plugging the usb in and checking the last few lines are what really helps. Looks like you got what you need from it.

p54usb implies you have a prism54 chipset, not ralink... and the message indicates that it's missing the binary blob firmware...

I haven't any experience with prism54 but does emerging the package net-wireless/prism54-firmware help?

http://daemonizer.de/prism54/prism54-fw/ may be helpful ...
_________________
Intel Core i7 2700K/Radeon R7 250/24GB DDR3/256GB SSD
What am I supposed watching?

pottzie · Guru Joined: 06 Nov 2010 Posts: 314

Ok, thanks. I'm just beginning to install Gentoo, and have yet to even partition the hard drive let alone download anything. Should I just go ahead and install everything, then try to get a driver once I have a system on the hard drive, or is there a way I can get the driver with the installer as it is now?

DONAHUE · Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2010 5:19 pm Post subject:

use ubuntu (of the same bitness as the intended install) for the install if you must use wireless
the linux running during the install does not become any part of the gentoo system.
as soon as ubuntu boots, open a terminal:

pottzie · Guru Joined: 06 Nov 2010 Posts: 314

I'll give that a shot and see what happens. one question: This is going onto a brand new (unformatted) hard drive. I've downloaded Ubuntu, but can this be done using it as alive cd, or do I have to install Ubuntu? Guess I'll find out in a minute.
Also, could I just use gparted to partition, or does fdisk need to do it's own thing?
Looks like Ubuntu just made a directory. Here goes nuthin'.

DONAHUE · Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2010 11:42 pm Post subject:

the answer is/was: either way; gparted would be fine

pottzie · Guru Joined: 06 Nov 2010 Posts: 314

This is a mindblower! I had no idea you could install an operating system from another system's live cd! Wow!

I'm stuck trying to connect to the mirrors. links is a no-go, and I had to download lynx-cur . I've got it, but when I try to connect using "lynx://http www.gentoo.org," etc, it says "unable to connect to host" Am I screwed, or is there something I can do?
FWIW, I (out of ignorance!) downloaded the stage3 tarball, and have it sitting on another computer. I could put it on a usb memory.....
But then, without being able to connect to the servers, what good would that do?

If I need to ask this as a new thread, let me know.

DONAHUE · Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 1:08 am Post subject:

use the browser window to download to /mnt/gentoo from any site found here: http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/mirrors2.xml :in the releases/x86/currentstage3 or releases/amd64/currentstage3 directory for the tarball :in snapshots directory for portage snapshot
then back into the terminal

pottzie · Guru Joined: 06 Nov 2010 Posts: 314

stage3 downloaded to Ubuntu's Downloads directory. When I try and untar it, /mnt/gentoo doesn't have it.
Tried cd'ing into the home directory and doing "mv stage3.." but Ubuntu comes back with"mv: cannot create regular file 'mnt/gentoo/stage3.....: permission denied.
How do I get stage3 into /mnt/gentoo?

DONAHUE · Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 2:51 am Post subject:

are you still

pottzie · Guru Joined: 06 Nov 2010 Posts: 314

sudo su-- didn't work. Entering sudo before each command gets me in as root. I'll try that, as I didn't when I tried to move stage3.

And.... viola! It's untarring as I type. Thanks!

DONAHUE · Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 3:21 am Post subject:

good show

space between su and --

pottzie · Guru Joined: 06 Nov 2010 Posts: 314

Having trouble with portage. It comes as three tar.bz2 files. After downloading the first two, there apparently isn't enough room to receive the third. I don't think moving the first two to /mnt/gentoo and untarring will work, as I assume it takes all three.
Actually, after checking Downloads, nothing is there, so that's not an option. At least the tarball knew that it took all three before it would confirm.

DONAHUE · Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 7:23 am Post subject:

try this in a terminal:

cwr · Veteran Joined: 17 Dec 2005 Posts: 1969

For large files, such as the output of dmesg, the solution is eg;
dmesg >fff 2>&1 ; more fff

which writes the entire output of dmesg to a file, then pages
the output file, which you can delete after you've got what
you want from it.

You _need_ one stage 3 file (120 MB?) and one portage snapshot
(25 MB?). The other files are checksums, small ASCII files listing
the output of various checksum (md5, etc.) of the downloaded
files; useful as a check if you have doubts about file integrity.

It's difficult to find space for these files until you've built a file
system, though since you are running Ubuntu you can put them
on a usb stick (even a windows usb stick ought to work, though
you may have to use 8.3 filenames).

I find it difficult to remember, when building Gentoo, which space
is where. Look up the command "df" - it's pretty helpful when
you need to find out what space you've actually got.

A stage 3 file by itself should get you to a root command shell
prompt, probably without networking, though you _may_ need
the grub package as well, I can't recall. Some sort of livecd is
the best way to run networking initially, to get the drivers you
need for your main system.

Will

pottzie · Guru Joined: 06 Nov 2010 Posts: 314

Donahue's code worked. Portage is on-board.

DONAHUE · Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 2:46 pm Post subject:

do run

pottzie · Guru Joined: 06 Nov 2010 Posts: 314

DONAHUE · Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 3:35 pm Post subject:

mirror select not necessary
start a new terminal in ubuntu, in it run:

pottzie · Guru Joined: 06 Nov 2010 Posts: 314

I got "permission denied" when I ran 'echo "nameserver."
Tried as user and root.

DONAHUE · Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 4:02 pm Post subject:

in the chroot terminal

echo "nameserver 8.8.8.8" > /etc/resolv.conf

pottzie · Guru Joined: 06 Nov 2010 Posts: 314

Permission denied there also.

DONAHUE · Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 4:21 pm Post subject:

weird
in chroot: